


Getting Better

by Light_Thistle



Category: Stargirl (TV 2020)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-17
Updated: 2020-06-17
Packaged: 2021-03-04 07:14:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,359
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24769846
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Light_Thistle/pseuds/Light_Thistle
Summary: Rick talks with Beth in the library.
Relationships: Beth Chapel/Rick Tyler
Comments: 8
Kudos: 93





	Getting Better

Rick Harris, no longer so secretly Rick Tyler, had a habit of wandering around after school, anywhere in order to delay as long as possible the moment when he would inevitably have to go home to the jerk of Matt. Most of the time, if he was lucky, he'd be in detention, where he could sit quietly and mind his own business. Unfortunately, having his father's hourglass meant he had to be careful. Rick was no fool, he knew he could no longer attract attention. That meant not getting into trouble. And that meant not going to detention.

That left him only his second choice, the library. If he was lucky there wouldn't be many people. So Rick grabbed his backpack and entered the spacious quiet room, surrounded by old and new books, only briefly exchanging a glance with the librarian Dian Belmont, before searching for a place to sit. The good thing was that it was almost empty. The bad thing was that it was not totally empty.

Beth Chapel looked up at him from the table next to the math section, smiling brightly and waving. Rick immediately felt the mixture of annoyance, awkwardness, and envy that he always felt at Beth's cheerful demeanor. He looked away, sitting at the table closest to him and furthest from Beth, quickly pulling out a book and pretending to be intensely focused on it. Mentally Rick cursed his luck. _Now she's going to come all the way here and be annoying as always,_ Rick thought, mentally preparing the words with which he would tell Beth to leave him alone, that just because they had to work together it didn't mean he wanted to be friends with them.

Beth would get up and go to him at any moment. So Rick waited there, in hostile silence.

Anytime.

Fifteen minutes later he wondered what she was waiting for, and looked up to see what she was doing. Beth Chapel was reading a math book, making notes on a block next to her. She didn't even seem to care that Rick was there. Well, that was better. Actually that was fine. She had taken the hint, miraculously. Rick didn't want friends and he certainly didn't want to be friends with Beth. He just wanted to avenge the death of his parents and get away from his uncle. The rest did not matter to him. And the aching feeling in his chest knowing that even Beth Chapel didn't want to approach him was the weight of his relief at being left alone. Nothing else.

He was so awful that not even Beth Chapel wanted to talk to him.

Twenty minutes had passed and Beth still did not acknowledge his existence. Rick started to feel dizzy, almost sick, that feeling in the back of his mind that popped up when things were about to get very, very bad. And Beth still didn't look at him. She was definitely ignoring him. In an impulse impossible to contain, quickly and without thinking, Rick picked up his book and walked towards her, stopping in front of her table.

"Chapel."

Beth looked up, smiling brightly. "Hi Rick! How are you?"

Rick hated that question, because the only answer he always had was the one people never wanted to hear. So instead he just pointed to his book. "I don't understand mixed equations," he lied. He had always been good at math. His father used to give him math exercises and tell him it were games. Rick thought carefully about what to say next. "Can you help me?"

"Sure!" Beth replied at the moment, and Rick's relief was so great that the unpleasant feeling in the back of his mind almost disappeared.

Silently, Rick sat in front of her to listen to a very long and detailed explanation of things he already knew. Beth looked him straight in the eye when she spoke to him, explaining maths as if they were the most exciting thing in the world. The girl could talk about stones and make them sound like the most exciting thing in the world. Rick paid more attention to the way she said things than to what she said. He couldn't remember the last time someone had spoken to him without disinterest or hate in their voice. The realization that Chapel's false tutoring was the closest thing to a real conversation he had had in months made him feel very pathetic.

"I'm glad you asked me for help, Rick. I wasn't sure if you would."

"Would what?"

"Talk to me," said Beth with a shrug. "I thought you wanted some space, but I'm glad you're not avoiding me or something like that."

"Why would I avoid you?" asked Rick raising an eyebrow, forgetting that a few minutes ago he was avoiding her. "I need you, Whitmore, and Montez to find the monster that killed my parents."

"And what are you going to do after?"

The question made his blood run cold. In his mind there was still no after. There had never been an after. If it had been Montez or Whitmore the immediate response would have been _'It's not your business',_ but knowing Beth, with her that would not work.

"I'll think of something," he said, thinking that was the least pathetic answer he could offer. Beth might be chatty and a little weird, but she was also incredibly observant.

"You're smart, Rick. I'm sure you can do whatever you want. I mean, these equations? Look how fast you learned them! They'll be useful for you to be an even better mechanic than you already are. Besides now-" Beth looked around them in case someone was nearby. She definitely had the braincells Courtney and Yolanda had lost. "-you got super strength! Do you know how many things you can do with super strength? You can do the work of ten men by yourself, technically you can jump so high that it'd be almost like flying. The possibilities are endless! You've become something incredible!"

Beth smiled at him again, and that smile felt different from the others. For a moment the permanent feeling of fury present in the back of his mind disappeared. For a moment Rick was not angry.

"I'll help you find out."

The good feeling magically disappeared at the mention of that word. "I don't need your help."

"I know, silly," Beth replied rolling her eyes, ignoring his change of mood. Just as Rick supposed she would. "But scientifically success is in the numbers. Look, I'll show you," said Beth, bending down to grab something from her backpack. She put out a little comic featuring a blonde girl slightly similar to Courtney on the cover. "This is Supergirl. She's the most powerful person in the world. And you want to know what her motto is? Stronger Together. Even the most powerful person in the world knows that the advantage is in teamwork."

"Chapel," said Rick, wondering where so much patience came from. "That's just a superhero comicbook."

"Exactly, like us! Keep it, Rick. I have more at home. And speaking of home, I have to go now," she said, standing up. "I'm going to make my dad's favorite tonight. Spaghetti! And I still have to go see Courtney and Yolanda. They must have already finished their date."

"Montez and Whitmore are dating?"

"Absolutely, they just don't know it yet. See you Rick!" she said cheerfully before turning around and leaving.

"Beth," said Rick, perhaps too loud for a library. "What am I supposed to do with this?" she said pointing to the Supergirl comic.

"Investigation," she said winking playfully.

"Investigation? That's stupid," Rick complained out loud, looking at the stupid colorful comic as if the smiling blonde on the cover was going to materialize in front of him to tell him how stupid he was. _I guess I have nothing better to do_ , Rick thought, taking a look at the first page. The least he could do was read it to tell Beth how stupid it was the next time he had a conversation with her.

He wouldn't mind talking to her from time to time.


End file.
